“Custodia gelosa — Zealous custodian” from the Gli abiti de veneziani (1754) by Giovanni Grevembroch, translated by René Seindal.
It is not easy to visit the many abandoned islands in the Venetian Lagoon, but it is possible. I’ve been to almost all of them.
The Venetian Lagoon is much more than just a watery area around the city of Venice. It is an integral part of Venice, its history and its origin.
This is an interactive map of most of the islands in the Venetian lagoon. Many islands are abandoned, or privately owned and inaccessible
The lazzaretti in Venice were the Venetian republic’s response to the emergency of the plague, and an efficient response too.
The black plague ravaged Venice for centuries, from the mid 1300s to the late 1700s. This is a chronology of some of the most important events.
In 1793 a ship from Nauplia in Greece brought cheese and the black plague to Venice. Twelve persons died.
Venice is normally a crowded place, and that is how most people know it. What most people don’t realise, however, is that important elements of Venice and its history are actually outside the city, in the surrounding lagoon.
A photo gallery of some of the many photos I have from the island of Poveglia in the Venetian lagoon.
The island of Poveglia is now famous for ghost stories made up by American television. However, there’s a lot more to say about the island than fictitious stories of ghosts and crazy doctors.